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The recent friendly against Ecuador was hard to gauge. Were Australia really that good in the first half or were Ecuador simply asleep?
Looking at the second half, its hard to argue against the latter. However, during the first half Australia played as well as Mark Bosnich had seen the Socceroos play in “a very long time”, and really did look like potential world beaters. Or at least as if they might put up a good fight in the 2014 World Cup.
Whatever the answer, we can draw from the evening in London a few names who have absolutely, barring injury (touch wood), not just booked their seat on the flight to Brazil, but their spot in the starting XI.
Tim Cahill
Many were predicting that Tim Cahill’s days of starting for the Socceroos were behind him, and that he would assume a “super-sub” role in Brazil. Wrong.
A lofted ball in the general area of Tim Cahill is without a doubt Australia’s best chance of scoring at this upcoming World Cup.
It does not even have to be Timmy who scores, as shown by the fact that it was he who won the penalty.
Possibly Australia’s best ever international footballer, Cahill has now overtaken Damien Mori as Australia’s leading scorer. The honour couldn’t have gone to a better representative.
Mat Ryan
From a purely selfish point of view, the night couldn’t have gone any better for Ryan.
The only one of the three goalkeepers in the squad who is playing regular football (at Club Brugge in Belgium), Ryan kept a first-half clean sheet, before watching Mitch Langerak and Brad Jones ship in four between them.
Considered to be Ryan’s greatest challenger, Langerak also had a moment of madness where he managed to not only get himself sent off, but perform a somersault on the strength of how hard he swung his leg into his opponent’s knee.
Even if we look beyond this match to determine who gets a boarding pass, Club Brugge is sitting clear second in the Belgian Pro League and has conceded the second-fewest goals.
Mile Jedinak
A certainty for Brazil and a near certainty to be wearing the captain’s armband, Jedinak marked his first game as captain by cooling slotting home a penalty.
Jedinak is the most defensive of Australia’s midfielders and is very effective at protecting a suspect back four. Coming up against Spain, the Netherlands and an in-form Chile, he will have his work cut out for him. However, captaining the South London side of Crystal Palace in a near-identical role will help Jedinak no end.
Palace was odds-on favourite to be relegated at the start of the year. They now sit a couple of points clear of the drop zone, and Jedinak has been an instrumental part of their season.
The Eagles’ skipper is one of only three outfield players to play every single minute of every game their team has played. His bank of experience against some of the world’s best will be needed in Brazil.
Tommy Oar
Oar plays in the Netherlands for FC Utrecht, and season 2013-14 has been something of a breakout year for the left-sided player.
While he has scored only once and provided three assists, Oar has played in 25 of Utrecht’s 27 games and has been starting to get the consistency of playing time he needs.
However, it is not his club form that is the main criteria for Oar’s selection. On the international stage, Oar has impressed with his pace and trickery down the left, and his increasingly accurate crossing.
Ever since putting a ball on Archie Thompson’s head for a crucial goal against Iraq in the World Cup qualifying campaign, Oar has gone about establishing himself as a regular. His game against Ecuador was outstanding, leaving defenders all at sea as he delivered accurate crosses which were duly put away by Tim Cahill.
Oar shapes as a crucial piece of the puzzle if Australia have any hope in Brazil.
Mark Milligan
Jedinak’s partner in crime, Milligan has had another strong season at club level, skippering the inconsistent but seemingly top-four-bound Melbourne Victory. Generally when he hasn’t played, Melbourne have been dominated.
Milligan broke into the Socceroos starting XI playing alongside Marc Bresciano and won plaudits for his performances as the more defensive of the two midfielders.
Now partnering Jedinak, Milligan is the more advanced, and the man the team look to when playing forward. Milligan’s body position when receiving a pass is nearly always positive, and he is the link man between attack and defence. It would be a brave soul who bet against a combination of Milligan and Jedinak in midfield in the Socceroos’ opening game of the World Cup.
Tom Rogic
The next big thing. That’s the title Rogic has had to cope with from nearly all Australians who crave to see Australians once more doing well in Europe’s big leagues.
Rogic’s move to Celtic after a brief A-League career seemed destined for success after his first game in which he was hailed as best on the park. However, he has been consistently overlooked.
In this writer’s opinion, Celtic coach Neil Lennon has acted disgracefully both in his conduct with the media and his list management. Despite being knocked out of the Champions League and inevitably leading the Scottish Premiership, Lennon looked to the winter transfer window to bring in players rather than give opportunities to those such as Rogic.
But enough of Lennon. Rogic was loaned to Melbourne Victory where he has shown his capabilities and will only get better as he gets used to Kevin Muscat’s unusual game plan.
It is this move which seems to have made Rogic starting in Brazil a certainty, as everyone can see from his limited international matches Rogic is the most exciting player Australia have. His skill on the ball and his ability to glide past defenders gives Rogic the look of a world-class footballer in the making.
Let’s hope Brazil is the stage on which we see Rogic announce himself.
Aside from the players above, it is very hard to predict who else will be starting in Brazil. Ivan Franjic is probably the odds-on favourite to start at right back, however he suffers in that he does not regularly play there. He also looked decidedly pressured in the second half against Ecuador.
Curtis Good (now unfortunately injured for six weeks) and Matthew Spiranovic looked more composed as a combination than we have seen in a while, however must still prove that they are up to playing in a World Cup, by strong performances for the rest of their club seasons and in the World Cup lead-up games.
Matthew Leckie is also a strong chance to be starting, and is in good club form. A strong finish to the season for his German side FSV Frankfurt and more of the same impressive showings from the Socceroos will see him start. Jason Davidson is yet to convince although he may benefit from the lack of another option.
Ange Postecoglou’s job in selecting a starting XI that is competitive in Brazil is difficult, although he will no doubt have learnt from Pim Verbeek’s disastrous decision to change tactics for the very first match of the 2010 World Cup.
It is because of this that we can be reasonably confident Ange will play a 4-2-3-1 of sorts, and also why we can even have a pretty good idea who will start.
However, a lot can change in football in the 90-odd days before the World Cup begins.
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